HONG KONG, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Hong Kong stocks edged lower in light trading on Monday, as selling pressure on property developers and financial heavyweights outweighed modest gains in tech shares. ** Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 0.08% by midday, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was flat.
** Shares in rate-sensitive sectors continued to decline.
** Real estate firms dropped 0.9% while a finance subindex tracking big banks and insurance firms lost 0.7%.
** Hang Seng Tech meanwhile went up 0.3%.
** Semiconductor and PCB shares led the gain. Kingboard Laminates surged 9% while Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor jumped 4%.
** China’s onshore financial markets are closed from October 1 until October 7 for the National Day holidays. Trading will resume on October 8.
** The travel and retail sales data during the week-long holiday could provide an early signal on consumer demand heading into the fourth quarter.
** Citi analysts said the Golden Week activity looks “underwhelming” based on early data.
** Retail and tourism spend likely softened per traveller despite steady footfall, they said in a note.
** Shares of Budweiser Brewing Company APAC slipped 2.1% to HK$5.555 in early trade, the lowest since their debut in September 2019.
** The brewer says it expects to record a $52 million non-underlying withholding tax charge resulting from an internal restructuring involving some of its Chinese mainland subsidiaries to enhance capital efficiency.
(Reporting by Summer Zhen; Editing by Jochelle Mendonca)
